Bay Nature's January - March 2012 front cover: Rat Island, China Camp State Park, Marin County. Image courtesy of Bay Nature.

Since September 2011, I have focused this blog on the unprecedented threats to California’s state parks and efforts by community volunteers, nonprofits, philanthropists and lawmakers to save parks now facing indefinite closure (Park funding crisis series).

While covering this topic, I have connected with park volunteers, bloggers, advocacy organizations, hikers, climbers and others who are concerned. Some fear losing access to one of their favorite parks and others see our state parks legacy falling apart.

My friends over at the nonprofit Bay Nature Institute are also closely following the issue. Hitting newsstands and mailboxes any day, the January – March 2012 issue of Bay Nature features the parks crisis as the cover story. Longtime Sierra magazine editor and local reporter Joan Hamilton illuminates the real people behind the hard work of trying to save some of the parks here in the Bay Area – from Henry Coe State Park to Jack London State Historical Park.

As we head into 2012, I would like to thank the individuals who have helped me follow the parks crisis in 2011 with information, links and camaraderie. Many thanks to:

• Andrew Vought of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation
• Ann Briggs of Coe Preservation Fund
• Annie Burke of the Bay Area Open Space Council
• Dan Rademacher, Editorial Director at Bay Nature
• David Sanger of David Sanger Photography
• Diane Einstein of the Marin State Parks Association
• Elisa Stancil of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association
• Geoff McQuilken, Executive Director of Mono Lake Committee
• Glenn Brank of Norcal Yak
• Greg Hayes of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association
• Jerry Emory of the California State Parks Foundation
• Kai Allen of the Mount Shasta Ranger Station, US Forest Service
• Laure Latham, blogger and author of Best Hikes with Kids, San Francisco Bay Area
• Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County
• R.D. Pasco of the Access Fund
• Ray Murray Partnerships Program Chief, Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service
• Rich Dolesh, Chief of Public Policy, National Recreation and Park Association
• Roger Dhesi, Partnerships Division for California State Parks
• Roy Stearns, Deputy Director of Communications, California State Parks
• Shelley O’Brien, Senior manager for fundraising at the National Recreation and Park Association and blogger at Grant Garden: Where Your Fundraising Grows
• Stephanie Burkhart of the National Park Service, Pacific West Region
• Stu Langdoc of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation
• Tom Burch, Chair of the Sierra Nevada Section, American Alpine Club

As this story continues to unfold, I will see you in 2012.

Blog series
This is the 17th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

• San Francisco Free Clinic
• The Bay Citizen
• San Francisco School Alliance

Castle Rock State Park, photo by Scott Haefner at scotthaefner.com

Today, the nonprofit Portola and Castle Rock Foundation launched a campaign to save Portola Redwoods State Park and Castle Rock State Park. The parks are hiking distance to California’s oldest state park: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, where the near obliteration of ancient redwoods south of San Francisco by the year 1900 led to an outcry and movement to save old growth forests as public parks.

Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock are among 18 state parks in the Bay Area and 70 across the state identified in May 2011 for closure by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as “California State Parks.”

At 2,800 acres, Portola Redwoods features a deep canyon filled with first- and second-growth coast redwoods and creeks flowing along fault lines to form waterfalls and small pools. Castle Rock spans 5,400 acres, saddling one of the highest ridges of the Santa Cruz Mountains and creating a rock wonderland for geologists and rock climbers. The park’s namesake is a sandstone formation rising 80 feet above the ridgetop.

Portola Redwoods State Park, Panoramio photo by Bruce da Moose

Among park champions across the state, stepping up to save the parks, are nonprofit groups that have worked side-by-side with state parks in local communities for decades to support education programs and stewardship.

As an official cooperating association of the state parks, the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation’s imperative now is to protect the parks they have supported since 1991. Their status as a 501(c)3 charitable organization allows them to raise tax-deductible donations from the public.

Fundraising to save the parks using Coe park as a model

The foundation’s goal is to raise funds to negotiate a deal with the Parks Department in the same way park advocates are working out an agreement to fund Henry W. Coe State Park – earmarking donations for the parks and keeping park staff in their positions.

It was the campaign at Coe that inspired the Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock Foundation to take action. “We were motivated by Coe’s success,” said Andy Vought, a board member and spokesperson for the foundation. “We want to follow their model since it is something the state appears to be OK with, and it provides us a manageable scope.” They are expecting Coe to announce a final deal with the Parks Department any day now.

To keep the parks open and staffed for one year, the foundation needs to raise a minimum of $500,000, in a very narrow window of time. Beyond this initial goal, they will continue to raise funds since the foundation believes that the state’s current budget crisis is unlikely to end any time soon. The group estimates that keeping Portola and Castle Rock Parks open for three years will require more than $1,500,000.

Although these are challenging goals, the foundation believes that Bay Area corporations, foundations and citizens will step up. Judy Grote, President of the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation, said: “I encourage everyone who has ever enjoyed these wonderful parks to join this campaign now. We need to raise funds in the next few months or we will lose these park jewels forever.”

Climber at Castle Rock State Park, Flickr photo by Raul Diaz

State’s oldest conservation groups and climbing guides join coalition to save parks

Sempervirens Fund and Save the Redwoods League also joined the campaign. These nonprofits have raised funds and pursued the acquisition of lands to be preserved for the public in perpetuity – adding thousands of acres to the state park system.

Preserving endangered redwoods was one of the first motives for establishing the first few state parks in California.

Sempervirens Fund, originally established in 1900 as Sempervirens Club, organized the movement to preserve the old-growth forest that became Big Basin Redwoods State Park in 1902, before the establishment of the state park system. The Fund also helped establish Castle Rock State Park in 1968. Since 1968, Sempervirens Fund has completed 35 transactions, funded by public, adding over 4,000 acres within the Castle Rock’s planning area.

Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has led the effort to protect the coast redwoods and giant sequoias. To date the League has completed the purchase of more than 189,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land. In 1927 a coalition of citizens, led by the Save-the-Redwoods League, campaigned for a state park bill. With unanimous approval by the legislature, Governor C.C. Young signed the bill into law in the same year.

The fourth partner in the coalition is Adventure Out, a state park authorized climbing guide at Castle Rock whose business will suffer if Castle Rock State Park closes.

If people don’t stand up, the parks will close

The state of California has already started to lock the gates on state parks slated for closure due to budget cutbacks – possibly closing them permanently. The Parks Department does not think many on the list of 70 will make it. Regions like the Bay Area have the advantage of being close to a large population, many with a passion for the outdoors and our parks.

Parks on the closure list can only survive if “people stand up and put their money and time” behind saving them, said Vought.

The Portola and Castle Rock Foundation needs donations and volunteers to get the word out through a public outreach campaign. You can find them online at www.portolaandcastlerockfound.org and on Facebook at Save Portola Redwoods and Castle Rock State Parks.

Blog series
This is the 16th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is an anchor for wildland and ecological protection in the Sonoma/Napa area … Simply winding up the park entrance road to Adobe Canyon, most people experience a sense of moving into a different realm, leaving behind the familiarity of urban life and shifting into a more rural and challenging setting.

Source: Final General Plan and Environmental Impact Report, 2004

On the same day that Mono Lake advocates announced goods news for the embattled Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve, state park officials locked the gates on Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, a park that straddles the rugged ridges surrounding 2,729-foot Bald Mountain above the world-renowned vineyards of Napa and Sonoma.

Articles published on December 1, 2011, by Sonoma Valley news outlets, including the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Sonoma Index-Tribune, reported that Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, one hour away from San Francisco and seven miles east of Santa Rosa, officially closed on November 30, 2011.

Unless a deal can be worked out between local nonprofits and the state, closure of this 5,100-acre wildland park in the “Valley of the Moon” will be permanent.

In an email, State Parks spokesperson Roy Stearns told the Press Democrat: “I think it is fair to say that some parks that close for the season, if on the closure list and no partners are found, will likely remain closed when spring gets here.”

California has never done this before: Major gaps in information and communication hinder solutions

Since news emerged in May 2011 about the imminent closure of 70 state parks, many groups with close ties to local parks have experienced great difficulty with getting information from the state on what it takes to operate each park, including costs.

Sorting everything out has taken considerable time, and time ran out for Sugarloaf advocates sooner than anticipated. According to the park’s website, the state was forced to shut the park’s gates due to “staff reductions and budgeting constraints.”

Nonprofits eager to negotiate operating agreements, authorized by a new law passed in October, are “creating new park budgets from scratch,” said Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County when I spoke with her in late September.

Nonprofits teaming up to draft a proposal, raise funds

On November 17, at a meeting of the Bay Area Open Space Council on the state park crisis, Lauren Dixon of the Parks Alliance for Sonoma County briefly described efforts by a group of five organizations to save Sugarloaf. The group, named “Team Sugarloaf” and led by the Sonoma Ecology Center, has been meeting monthly to devise a plan. At the time, a proposal to operate the park was in draft form.

According to Dixon, the Parks Alliance is committed to helping Sonoma organizations raise funds from the local communities to build capacity to operate parks and create a long term plan for protecting the parks. The Parks Alliance itself is funded by the Sonoma Land Trust and donated office space from Sonoma County Regional Parks.

A wildland park holding the headwaters to salmon spawning habitat

Another challenge to this unprecedented crisis for our state parks is that every park varies in size and facilities and has unique ecological conditions. Over 25 miles of trails traverse through Sugarloaf’s wildlands of madrone, fir and oak forests to a sweeping 360-degree view on top of Bald Mountain. On clear days, you can see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge to the south. The park also features an astronomy observatory, housing several telescopes, and campgrounds.

Creeks emanating from the slopes of the park support steelhead and Chinook salmon spawning and summer rearing habitats. Santa Rosa Creek flows west into the Russian River, and Sonoma Creek flows south into San Pablo Bay.

According to the park’s 2004 Environmental Impact Report:

“Small-scale changes in ecological conditions in the park could degrade water quality downstream … these headwaters provide critical spawning habitat for chinook salmon and steelhead, whose lifecycles take them far beyond the local landscape, returning to their natal streams from across the Pacific.”

Blog series
This is the 15th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

“We must all stand up and find solutions to protect the places we love.” ~ Robert Hanna, Mono Lake champion and great-great-grandson of John Muir

Blog series
This is the 14th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

• Dave Gould, Parks Alliance of Sonoma County and Former State Parks Superintendent, moderator
• Craig Anderson, LandPaths
• Bob Berman, Benicia State Parks Association
• Lauren Dixon, Parks Alliance of Sonoma County
• Ruskin Hartley, Save the Redwoods League
• Danita Rodriguez, State Parks, Marin District
• Traci Verardo, California State Parks Foundation

Bay Area Open Space Council POSTSCRIPT:
Over 100 people filled the Tamalpais Room at the Brower Center to hear from a panel about, and discuss themselves, the state parks crisis and the partnerships that are forming because of it. Read more …

Blog series
This is the 13th article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

View from Mt. Burdell, Olompali State Historic Park (slated for closure)

On October 4, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 42 (authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael) to allow nonprofits to help run up to 20 state parks.

Now that AB 42 presents a new tool for saving state parks on the closure list, on Wednesday I spoke with Roy Stearns, spokesperson for California State Parks, to find out if nonprofits have come forward with proposals. He said that groups have stepped up for three North Bay parks.

The Valley of the Moon Natural History Association is proposing to run the Jack London State Historic Park near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County. This all-volunteer nonprofit recently held a successful fundraiser and has more ideas for revenue generation.

In Napa, a county agency and a nonprofit are partnering up to save Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. The Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District and the Napa Valley State Parks Association are proposing a plan to make these parks operationally self-supporting. They will need donations of money and in-kind services to get things started and to take care of the most serious deferred maintenance issues.

The parks department expects to see many other proposals in the coming weeks. District park supervisors have been in talks with nonprofit state park cooperating associations since January. Around the state, 85 cooperating associations are members of the California League of Park Associations. Many of these groups have been nonprofit partners to state parks for decades, offering volunteers and education services.

Funding for state parks will become more localized

Before the parks crisis of today, the state parks department turned to regional public agencies and businesses to help run parks because, in some cases, nonprofits and private local companies can do a “better job than the state can,” said Stearns. In all cases, state rules apply, and the parks department provides some oversight. An earlier California law authorized the parks department to enter into operating agreements with government agencies.

The state currently holds contracts with 32 public agencies to run parks. The East Bay Regional Parks District runs Eastshore State Park, Lake Del Valle State Recreation Area and Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve. According to Stearns, 12 public agencies (city and county governments) have entered talks to operate parks on the closure list.

The parks department also holds 200 contracts with local private companies to run concessions like kayak rentals, snack bars, camping stores and cabins rentals.

Two nonprofits already have operating agreements for parks based on specific pieces of legislation. The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation runs the El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park in Southern California. Near Tomales Bay north of San Francisco, California State Parks runs the Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park as a nonprofit unit.

One by one, a few parks saved

One by one, short-term solutions are emerging for at least some of the state parks on the closure list. The National Park Service rescued three Northern California parks. Philanthropists who love Henry Coe State Park will save that South Bay park in a unique agreement. While not final yet, a few nonprofits and public agencies are in various stages of developing proposals to run parks in their communities.

Blog series
This is the eighth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding.

And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him.”

-Jack London, The Call of the Wild

Across Sonoma Mountain wisps of sea fog are stealing … I have everything to make me glad I am alive. I am filled with dreams and mysteries. I am all sun and air and sparkle. I am vitalized, organic.”
- Jack London

Retired state park ranger Gregory Hayes knows all three Sonoma Valley parks well. In the three years before he retired in 2004, he supervised Annadel, Sugarloaf and Jack London parks. For the prior 22 years, he served as a ranger in Jack London State Historic Park, where he led tours and answered questions about London, who was known for “naturalistic adventure stories” such as The Call of the Wild. In a story for Bay Nature magazine titled, “Recalling the Wild: The Literary Nature of Jack London State Park,” Hayes called the historic park on the eastern slope of 2,300-foot Sonoma Mountain a “jewel of a park.”

Jack London State Historic Park was a gift to the people of California through the will of Jack London’s widow, Charmian London, who lived here until her death in 1955. She wanted the house she built after his death – the House of Happy Walls – to become a museum in honor of her husband. The historic park opened to the public in 1959 and is now being “dismantled” wrote Timothy Egan in the New York Times.

Today the park attracts both nature lovers and literature enthusiasts. Jack London wrote many of his famous novels here until the time of his death in 1916. Historic park structures date back to times before London purchased the abandoned property from a winery in 1905. Now, Gregory Hayes worries that these historic structures, including the Wolf House (1913), the House of Happy Walls (1919), as well as the graves of John and Charmian London, will deteriorate or be vandalized if the park closes its gates. Hayes asks, “Who will be responsible for the structures?”

While Hayes has asked state representatives many questions, he has heard few answers. Sacramento state park officials have passed information down through regional offices, but the information has been vague. “We are not sure of what closures will look like,” said Hayes this past week. He also lamented, “This is not very encouraging, we know what happens when people don’t take out the garbage and use closed buildings.”

Can an all-volunteer nonprofit save the Valley of the Moon parks?

Meanwhile, Hayes, who is currently president of the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association, is working with other volunteers in hopes of keeping at least one of the three parks from being abandoned. Similar to Henry W. Coe State Park to the south of San Francisco Bay, each park runs about $300,000 to operate annually at current levels.

Like other park advocates, he wishes that these Sonoma Valley parks had a benefactor willing to support the current state park staff and operations like at Coe. But they currently lack the ability to raise the $300,000 per year per park. For the last 34 years, the nonprofit Valley of the Moon Natural History Association, an all-volunteer state park cooperating partner, has raised financial support for education programs, publications and special projects in these parks, but funds have been very modest, certainly not close to the funds needed to operate three state parks. The work of dedicated volunteers brings the greatest value.

Assembly Bill 42, now on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow nonprofits like this one to run the parks through formal operating agreements, but will they have the funds to feel confident about signing on the dotted line?

Despite the formidable obstacles, Hayes and the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association want to save the “wonderland” of parks that include salmon spawning grounds as well as romantic views into the literary history of a California legend. They are looking at the revenue and expenses of the parks and working on a proposal to keep at least Jack London State Historic Park open since this park could potentially suffer the most damage.

They hope to build visibility for the plight of Jack London State Historic Park through the numerous groups and fan clubs around the world. Many groups have come to us asking, “How can we help?” says Hayes. Several groups are organizing fundraising events for the fall from poetry readings to a piano recital and Broadway Under the Stars on October 1.

Ideas for Making it Work

In a recent Valley of the Moon Natural History Association newsletter, park advocates list five actions you can take to help save and protect the state parks as well as other ideas for consideration, such as extending the reach of regional park management agencies into the state parks.

Blog series
This is the fourth article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding as park systems are forced to reinvent. Next week I will speak with a representative of the Parks Alliance in Sonoma County, a coalition of 12 nonprofit groups, including the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association, working together to find a solution to the crisis.

“Would I prefer a nonprofit operated park as a opposed to a closed park? Absolutely.”

After the public voted down Proposition 21 to support the park system in last November’s elections, what are the alternatives to keep this public asset truly public? Elizabeth Goldstein is optimistic that “we will find a long term tool to sustain the park system.” She said it will be critical for us to “keep our voices high.” Her organization, the California State Parks Foundation, accepts donations to help keep parks open.

One caller to the show said that his corporation was wondering if the state park system has an “adopt a ranger” or “adopt a park” program and if it was possible to see park budgets. Elizabeth Goldstein enthusiastically jumped on the opportunity, offering her email address on the air. In response, Krasny said, “does this mean that we are moving toward privatization?” Goldstein pointed out that the park system has relied on private donations for decades (if not for its entire lifetime) with the big change now applying to how donations will be spent in the park system. In the past her foundation raised money to support education programs and capital projects, now dollars will fund operations and maintenance.

Governor Brown has until October 6 to sign Assembly Bill 42 into law. You can send a message to the governor to let him know your position on this bill.

70 California State Parks on the Closure List

San Francisco Bay Area Parks are in bold

1. Anderson Marsh SHP
2. Annadel SP
3. Antelope Valley Indian Museum SHP
4. Austin Creek SRA
5. Bale Grist Mill SHP
6. Benbow Lake SRA
7. Benicia Capitol SHP
8. Benicia SRA
9. Bidwell Mansion SHP
10. Bothe-Napa Valley SP
11. Brannan Island SRA
12. California State Mining and Mineral Museum Park Property
13. Candlestick Point SRA
14. Castle Crags SP
15. Castle Rock SP
16. China Camp SP
17. Colusa-Sacramento River SRA
18. Del Norte Coast Redwoods SP
19. Fort Humboldt SHP
20. Fort Tejon SHP
21. Garrapata SP
22. George J. Hatfield SRA
23. Governor’s Mansion SHP
24. Gray Whale Cove SB
25. Greenwood SB
26. Grizzly Creek Redwoods SP
27. Hendy Woods SP
28. Henry W. Coe SP
29. Jack London SHP
30. Jug Handle SNR
31. Leland Stanford Mansion SHP
32. Limekiln SP
33. Manchester SP
34. Picacho SRA
35. Portola Redwoods SP
36. Russian Gulch SP
37. Salton Sea SRA
38. Twin Lakes SB
39. Los Encinos SHP
40. Malakoff Diggins SHP
41. McConnell SRA
42. McGrath SB
43. Mono Lake Tufa SR
44. Morro Strand SB
45. Moss Landing SB
46. Olompali SHP
47. Palomar Mountain SP
48. Petaluma Adobe SHP
49. Pio Pico SHP
50. Plumas-Eureka SP
51. Point Cabrillo Light Station Property SHP
52. Providence Mountains SRA
53. Railtown 1897 SHP
54. Saddleback Butte SP
55. Samuel P. Taylor SP
56. San Pasqual Battlefield SHP
57. Santa Cruz Mission SHP
58. Santa Susana Pass SHP
59. Shasta SHP
60. South Yuba River SP
61. Standish-Hickey SRA
62. Sugarloaf Ridge SP
63. Tomales Bay SP
64. Tule Elk SNR
65. Turlock Lake SRA
66. Weaverville Joss House SHP
67. Westport-Union Landing SB
68. William B. Ide Adobe SHP
69. Woodson Bridge SRA
70. Zmudowski SB

This is the second article in a series on threats to California State Parks and the search for sustainable funding as the park system is forced to reinvent itself.

• PND – Philanthropy News Digest
• PhilanTopic
• Bridgespan
• Beth’s Blog
• Have Fun • Do Good
• Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog
• NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
• Getting Attention Blog
• Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog
• SocialFish
• Nonprofit Blog Exchange
• The Communications Network blog

Guy Kawasaki is the cofounder of Alltop.com. He is also a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures and the author of several books on marketing and innovation. His latest book is Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. Previously, he was the “chief evangelist” at Apple.

This widget features the latest blog posts on the nonprofit channel:

These five questions form the foundation of Charting Impact, a new initiative of BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Guidestar USA and Independent Sector funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In this article, Hewlett’s Program Officer Jacob Harold discusses their support for Charting Impact.

If you have been through a strategic planning process before or if you have built a comprehensive case for support, it is likely that you have thought about these questions already.

By encouraging nonprofits to go through a process to answer these five questions, the project’s leaders hope to promote strategic thinking and the open sharing of ideas, strategies and results through standardized reports, available on the website.

Since many foundations already look at a prospective grantee’s Guidestar profile during the due diligence process, particularly 990 tax returns, this report could help nonprofits share their impact beyond those financials – to potential funders and donors.

You can download a Discussion Copy of Charting Impact to use in your conversations and development process. The guide suggests that you consider selecting one person to champion the process and manage the writing while involving the perspectives of multiple people from across the organization. Charting Impact’s pilot with 39 organizations suggests that the most successful reports will include input from five to six individuals over a period of two weeks.

As of this writing, 62 nonprofits are participating in Charting Impact and have submitted reports to the website. I was curious to find out how many of those participants are California or Bay Area-based organizations, but the Charting Impact search function seems to need a fix. Manually scanning the list of 62, I spotted a few Bay Area-based organizations: Women’s Funding Network, GreatNonprofits and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (the funder). All three participated in the 2010 pilot of this project.

Writing tips
When writing responses to the five questions, the Charting Impact project offers these tips:

• Use simple declarative sentences.
• Be clear. Don’t ask the reader to guess what you mean (This is a great tip because confusion does not lead to persuasion!).
• Be concise. Include only necessary supporting information.
• Be specific. Use numbers and examples where possible.
• Use commonly understood language. Avoid jargon.



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Last Sunday, my husband and I took an “art hike” to visit studios open for the annual East Bay Open Studios. This weekend, June 11-12, hundreds of East Bay artists will again welcome the public into their studios for the final weekend of the self-guided tour for this year.

Organized by the nonprofit Pro Arts since 1979, East Bay Open Studios connects the public with local artists during the first two weekends in June.

On our tour in Berkeley, we visited nine studios, among the 400 open throughout the East Bay. Many of the studios were converted garages made airy and bright with skylights, angled ceilings and track lighting.

The maps on the Pro Arts website make it easy for you to plot your tour, by region, while each icon on the map connects you to an artist’s profile page with a featured piece.

As enthusiasts for the outdoors and wild lands, we were sure to visit studios of environmental artists. Not surprisingly, several Berkeley artists gain their inspiration from Bay Area and California landscapes including Betsy Kendall and Judith Corning.

Judith Corning’s post card for the Open Studios features her work “Gulls at Kehoe.” Kehoe is a stretch of beach at Point Reyes National Seashore where she spends a lot of time as a volunteer for the Beach Watch program of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary’s wildlife and habitats.




Gulls at Kehoe by Artist Judith Corning




The work of Wilma Wyss also sparked my intrigue, particularly her piece called “Archaeological Find.” The small sculpture made of concrete and tiny mosaic tiles encases a small mirror at its core. When you stare into it your eye becomes part of the artwork as it stares back at you, perfectly framed.



Concrete and Mosaic Sculptures by Wilma Wyss




We were lucky to find a copy of the “Directory of East Bay Arts” at the first studio we visited. This made it easy to locate studios along our journey, which started in the flats and ended at the top of the hill near Grizzly Peak Boulevard. By the end of the afternoon, we had hiked over seven miles but hardly noticed.



A view of Mt Tamalpais from the Berkeley Hills

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